Farmer Michael Schmidt, seen here on Tuesday at a farmshare members' meeting in Thornhill, after having lost more than 30 pounds. Michael is now on day 20 of his hunger strike for responsible food freedom, drinking only water.
(QUEEN’S PARK) Randy Hillier, MPP for Lanark-Frontenac-Lennox & Addington applauded raw milk activist Michael Schmidt for his persistent battle for individual freedom. Last month, the Ontario Court of Justice overturned a lower court’s ruling against Schmidt and upheld the 15 charges that were brought against him by the province in 2006.
Schmidt held a press conference today at Queen’s Park; he is three weeks into a hunger strike to protest against the current regulations that prohibit individuals from legally acquiring raw milk in Ontario.
“Michael’s case with raw milk is a perfect example of the overzealous limits we place on individual freedom,” said Hillier. “His ongoing battle is just another example of the regulatory burden that an individual must deal with on a daily basis in this province.”
Schmidt is in the process of appealing his case to the Ontario Court of Appeals. The Grey Bruce Health Unit is in the process of laying new charges against Schmidt.
“The health unit should have waited for due process of the law to run its full course, before targeting Mr. Schmidt with these new charges,” said Hillier. “The fact that they do not demonstrates a vengeful and vindictive approach to this case by this provincial government.”
The Bovine 
Ontario MPP Frank Klees (Newmarket-Aurora) shares our concern. He does not agree with “the ongoing undermining of individual rights by the McGuinty government as expressed in the Schmidt case.” He believes that “the government needs to get the facts and then behave responsibly and ensure that the people of Ontario are protected, while allowing them their freedom of choice.”
In 2006, Klees, then MPP for Oak Ridges, supported a resolution by his former colleague Bill Murdoch to examine the issues surrounding raw milk.
Here is the Ontario Harsard from that session dated Dec. 7, 2006:
Mr. Bill Murdoch (Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound): I move that, in the opinion of this House, the government of Ontario should immediately form an all-party task force to examine the issues surrounding raw milk and that the all-party task force report its findings to the House before the end of the spring session.
Mr. Frank Klees (Oak Ridges): I want to rise in support of my colleague’s resolution. The reason I believe it’s appropriate that we should move forward with this is that, as Mr. Murdoch indicated to the House, that’s our responsibility. It’s so typical of the Liberal government to say, “Let’s not study it. We know enough and we know better. Government knows best.” I think the people of Ontario are sick and tired of hearing from a government that tells them what to do and the basis on which to do it because it is they, the government of the day, that tells them how to do it.
I believe that we’re not doing our job as legislators if we don’t do what Mr. Murdoch is asking us to do, and that’s simply to form an all-party committee to study the matter and to get the facts. I disagree with the member opposite who suggests you already have all of the facts, because I don’t believe that you do. Why not have an open mind? Why not behave as a legislator with an open mind, get the facts, study them, and then come back and report to the House? That really is all that is being asked.
I feel that as a member of this Legislature, I have a responsibility to respond to my constituents. I have a number of petitions. I have received a number of letters from constituents who say, “As my member of provincial Parliament, I’m asking you to support this resolution, to look into the matter, and to report back because at issue here is a principle.”
That’s why I think it’s important that we study the matter, and the principle is an individual citizen’s freedom of choice as to the kind of food that they consume and to determine where that food should be produced and how it should be produced. Surely, in the province of Ontario today, we want our citizens to at least have that freedom to make a decision, an informed decision, about what they consume. What we don’t want is more government telling us what to eat, how to eat it and at what time. That’s next: This government is going to tell us when we can consume our food. I think it’s time that we simply agreed to take this forward.
I want to read from a letter from one of my constituents; I think they have it right. Here’s what they say: “What we would like is this issue to be investigated, for regulations and a system of inspections to be established, and for people to be allowed to make an informed choice.” They also say this — and I want the members of the government to please listen to this: “Approximately 30 states, including the state of California where they do have mass distribution of raw milk, and numerous countries in Europe did not legalize the sale of raw milk because they were blindly `jumping off of a bridge.’ They studied the issue and decided to support their citizens’ right to make their own health choices. So is looking to these others to attempt to learn what they learned the same as `jumping off a bridge’? Okay, then let us study it ourselves, and learn our own lessons, but at least let us have an open mind and study the issue, and not ignore it because some people in industry and government would rather not.”
Another very important aspect of this is the fact that we have heard over the last number of weeks over and over again — and just this morning, we heard a report that green onions are being eliminated from Taco Bells across North America. Now, this government would say, “We’ll eliminate green onions forever because there’s a problem.” You see, it’s not the green onions; it’s how they’re being handled. And I would suggest that that may well be what we find as we open our minds and investigate this. It’s not the raw milk that causes the problem. When there’s a problem, I suggest it may be how it’s being handled or mishandled. So perhaps what this government should be doing is ensuring that we have the appropriate regulations in place to ensure the proper handling, so that people can in fact make their individual personal choices rather than have government once again move, now into our kitchen. They’re everywhere else, and now they’re going to move into the kitchen and tell us how to conduct our lives.
I think it’s fundamentally wrong. I support this resolution because it’s open-minded. It simply is saying to the Legislature, “Let’s get the facts and then behave responsibly and ensure that the people of Ontario are protected, while allowing them their freedom of choice.”
It’s Ontario Hansard, not Harsard.
If you want to keep up with what our corrupt governments are doing check out naturalnews.com and mercola.com.
Now – Premier McGuinty – it is time to meet with Michael Schmidt so that we can have healthy food… instead of milk from cows that eat corn silage – that means the leaves – not just the corn and also soy – which makes the cows sick – and then a pumped full of antibiotics – and that effluent is called PASTEURIZED HOMOGENIZED MILK not fit for human consumption – and the milk marketing board has to spend countless dollars to promote this “so called FOOD”.